


A Day In The Life Of Dan&Phil: Autism Edition

by AngelOfBooze



Series: Autistic Phil Lester [1]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Autism, Autistic, Autistic Character, Autistic Phil Lester, Gen, Melt Down, PoV: Viewer, ablism, self harm in the form of hitting ones head
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2015-08-22
Packaged: 2018-04-16 14:00:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4627929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelOfBooze/pseuds/AngelOfBooze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan and Phil film a DitL video that is quite different than their normal ones. No, it's not porn. It's not a child. They're not together. Its much more interesting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Day In The Life Of Dan&Phil: Autism Edition

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so first off. Sorry for disappearing off of the face of the earth for like...6 months. That's all on me.  
> Secondly, rpf, yes. I went there. It's my first rpf so the characterisation is probably rusty or something might be a glaring problem to seasoned rpf writers.  
> And last but not least, this is from the PoV of a viewer watching the video. So there is very little internal diolouge type of stuff and other good things like that.

The screen flashes to black and a note pops up. _None of this footage was used without Phil’s explicit permission, he was half of the editing team, after all. Everything in this video he wanted to show you and asked for it to be included._

The camera wobbles as Phil picks it up and centres it on his face. His hair is sticking up in odd places, giving him an unmade quiff. His face is framed by his dark glasses. Many a gif will be made of this iconic AmazingPhil moment. A broad smile is plastered across his face, “Hi guys! Dan’s just out in the kitchen making breakfast while I wake up” he says as his jaws stretch into an animated yawn. “I hope you guys are ready to experience a side of us you’ve never seen”

The screen cuts to Phils legs and sock clad feet. The camera lifts and focuses on Dan, wearing a loose T-shirt and grey pants, which, as always, were not covering him enough to preserve his decency. Dan frowned in an over exaggerated manner, “Really, today?” he asks. Phils laugh cracks out behind the camera. “Yeah I thought I told you” he says. Dan shakes his head and groans as he takes his bowl of cereal off the counter and slips past Phil and into the lounge.  
Phil turns the camera around on himself and sighs a little. He puts on a weak smile. “Today Dan and I are going to film a day in the life video,” he says as he points up, cringes a little and points down towards the bottom of the screen, “but I’m sure you can tell that by the title. You can also probably tell that this is a slightly different day in the life video” he smiles. A million shippers hearts soar like helium balloons that have been released by a child at a carnival, “This video is going to be about my autism.” The shippers hearts plummet, rather more like rocks than helium balloons. “I’m sure many of you are going to want to comment and either apologise for it or tell me how strong I am to live with it, but really there’s no need to. It’s simply a neurological condition that I live with. It’s not good or bad. It just is”  
“I guess I want to make this video to show people that autistics are perfectly normal and complex human beings. You just have to remember that I don’t speak for all autistics and I’m only showing you one experience in literally millions, its not a hive mind, we’re not like ants who invade your picnic and steal your bite sized cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off..who would do that anyway, imagine someone coming into your home and stealing your-” Phils voice trails off as he realises he’s rambling. “But any way what I’m trying to say is, I don’t speak for everyone and I am not going to steal your food.”

There’s another cut in the video to Dan sitting on the couch, the camera turns around to face Phil. Phil is standing in the middle of the lounge room spinning around slowly. “Just having a bit of a morning stim?” Dan asks, a smile in his voice. Phil laughs and nods as he continues spinning. Dan focuses the camera on himself “We’ve finished eating breakfast and Phil’s having one of the more stimmy days because we just got _Free!_ On DvD” a #spon pops up in the corner of the screen for a half second. Phil lets out a soft sound of happiness and Dan spins the camera around to capture Phil flapping his hands and shaking his head. Dan laughs.

The camera is focused on Phils closet doors. “Time to go to Narnia” he says, making a whooshing noise as he pulls open the doors. “I’m actually just going to show you what clothes are good for my SPD” he says, flipping through all the shirts on their hangers. He pulls out the bat shirt and holds it up. “I’ve cut the tags off of all of my shirts and pants” he says, “So I’ve stuck the tags on the hangers so I can remember how to wash them” he positions the camera so that it focuses on the coat hanger that is labelled “Bat Shirt” and some raggedy tags, presumably from the shirt, stuck on it. “Dan says it’s weird but I find it a good way to keep my wardrobe organised.”

Dan is standing at the bottom of the stairs and the camera is bouncing up and down slightly as Phil descends them. “We’re going out because, well, otherwise this would be an hour of us browsing tumblr and another of us figuring out how to use the cordless hammer drill” Dan says. Phil makes a noise of agreement before they walk out the door.

In the train station Phil is rocking slightly and flicking his fingers. “Loud” he says in way of explanation. Dan makes a noise of understanding. “Phils sensory issues prevent him from being able to filter the noise properly,” Dan says, “Today is a bad day, sensory wise” he finishes. Phil hums in agreement and digs around in his pockets for a second before pulling out some headphones and plugging them into his phone. He starts humming along to one of the songs, slightly off key.

Dan is holding the camera at Phil, who is rocking in the train seat. He moves his hand into the camera and Phils eye line before making a motion for Phil to take off his headphones. “Want to talk about any of your special interests?” He asks. Phil shakes his head and makes a motion with his hand, “Ah okay, later” Dan says as Phil goes back to rocking. A low hum buzzing out from him.

The next cut is made and the video jumps to just as the train rolls to a stop at the station. A woman walks up to Dan and Phil, a superimposed picture of Pepe the Frog shielding her identity. Dan has presumably put it there while editing to preserve her dignity. The woman bends down and says to Dan, “I think what you’re doing for him is great” A slightly surprised laugh comes from Dan, “What, filming him?” he asks, prompting the woman along. The lady shakes her head, “No! Taking care of him, bless his soul. Are you filming for the family?” Phil takes a break from his rocking and humming to let out an incredulous squawk. “I’m his friend” Dan says, his voice flat.  
“I’m filming this so we can edit through all of this footage for our millions of subscribers” Dan adds on in a dry tone. Phil nods in agreement with Dan while typing away on his phone that he presumably produced while he was out of shot. Dan jostles the camera as he gets up from his seat and pushes past the woman who has crowded uncomfortably into he and Phils space. Phil stands up and moves to lead the way out of the train carriage, only pausing to press the play button on the app he has up on his phone. An automated American voice reads out what Phil has written in a jerky tone, “I am developmentally disabled but that doesn’t make me any less worthy of respect than an abled person”

The camera cuts to Phil, the sounds of a coffee shop mingling around him and fading into background noise. Phil has the camera turned around on himself “Because today is a bit ehh sensory wise, I also have these” he says as he picks something off the table, “and before you say I look like a stuck up d-grade movie star, these are what keep me going” he says as he puts some dark tinted glasses on. Phil turns the camera on Dan as he is weaving through people to get back to his and Phils table with fill cups of coffee in his hands. “Wearing our douche glasses are we?” he says in a joking tone, to which Phil hums in an affirmative, ignoring Dans teasing. He and waits until Dan has set the coffee down to hit is shoulder gently. “Ow, no need to get violent! Gimme that” the camera shakes for a sickening moment as Phil hands it over to Dan. The camera steadies.  
“I guess now would be a good time to talk about your special interests?” Dan prompts. Phil perks up a bit and his hands start to move animatedly. “As you’ve probably already guessed, my main special interest is video editing. But I also love lions, obviously, and less obviously, stickers. I haven’t managed to make a career out of the last two yet..” he trails off, before adding, “unless you count the stickers in the Dan and Phil shop” he laughs and Dan says ‘#spon’ before turning the camera on himself, “And now you guys can draw Phil naked with his special interests!” Behind Dan a man in a suit made a face of confusion and mild horror (this man would forever be fondly remembered as a phandom meme). “I think I might make a video about my special interests, because that way I will have a load of time to work with” Phil flaps his hands, almost hitting himself a few times.

The scene changes to Dan and Phil sitting in what is obviously a park. “Alright, Phil. Tell us what stimming feels like to you” Dan says as he trains the camera on Phil, whos dark hair is wreathed with a back ground of green trees and sunlight. Phils face contorts slightly as he thinks. “Well it’s like…Imagine the feeling you get when you’re being hugged. It’s like that except way more intense and pleasant” Dan lets out a snort.  
“I’m sure your mum will be glad to hear that, Phil” he says,  
“She already knows how I feel about uninitiated contact” Phil says in a light voice. He flaps his hands and continues. “See, when I do this, I get a feeling of warmth in my wrists, and it travels down my arms and into my chest, like a billion tiny dogs hugging me at once” He explains. Dan snorts in amusement and Phil shoots him a look. “You try explaining it better” he says as he lightly shoves Dan, the movement shaking the camera.

“Yeah, yeah I’m coming” Dan calls as he walks down the hall of he and Phils apartment, the angle of the camera looking as if it was only just picked up a few seconds before it turned on. He turns into Phils room and the camera goes blurry before refocusing on Phil. Phil is sitting in the middle of his room, on the floor, surrounded by a slight clutter of things. He’s flapping his hands very close to his head. “Too much” he says, scanning the floor around him and making a keening noise in the back of his throat. Dan makes a noise of agreement before kneeling down in front of Phil and picking something up. “I’ll help you clean up in here, okay?” he says. Phil nods before he makes a sudden move to hit his head. The camera is almost dropped and an inhale of air is heard from Dan as he lunges forward to stop Phils hands connecting with his head. “Yeah okay, let’s forget about this for now” Dan says as he places the camera on top of Phils dresser and wraps his friend up in a hug that would be uncomfortably tight to most people.

The next thing the camera cuts to is a shot of Phil getting his back rubbed by Dan in their lounge. Phil is gently hitting at a pillow he has over his head and making low keening noises. “I’m just going to go make us some tea” Dan says softly. Dan gives Phils back one last rub, a move that would later become the cover of many terminal illness fics in the Phandom. The camera jostles slightly as Dan leaves Phil. “He’s having a meltdown” He says by way of explanation, “Todays events, while small things on their own, were a bit too much to handle, the mess on his floor was the straw that broke the camel’s back” Dan says.

The scene changes to a thoroughly dishevelled looking Phil sitting on the couch, wearing his glasses over red rimmed eyes. He takes a sip of the tea he has in his hands and runs a hand through his hair a few times. His hand is shaking slightly. “I could really use a nap right now” he says tiredly, a slight open mouthed smile breaking out over his blotchy tear stained face as he leans forward and into Dans chest before pulling a weighted blanket up around his shoulders. Dan turns the camera on himself. “That was a day in the life that has hopefully opened some of your eyes” he says, “Now excuse us while we watch some _Free!_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank-you so much for reading!  
> I love and appreciate all your comments so much, so if you have one to send, send away!!  
> Also, if anyone wants I can turn this into a series? Or you guys could write your own autie!Phil fics??  
> Thanks again!


End file.
